# 1950s Habanos Catalog



## moki (Jan 12, 2004)

Check out this Habanos Catalog from the 1950s -- scanned by into 4 PDF files for your viewing pleasure.

Some marketing BS in the beginning, but the balance of the catalog is a very interesting trip down Habanos history lane. Notable are some of the marcas that are largely unheard of today, as well as decommissioned vitolas.

...enjoy.


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## shilala (Feb 1, 2008)

The H.Upmann Amatistas jar is wicked cool. They sure knew how to get it done, didn't they?


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## LARAIDER (Sep 1, 2007)

Did you see those prices.


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## moki (Jan 12, 2004)

LARAIDER said:


> Did you see those prices.


Place an order... ya never know!


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## n2advnture (Aug 9, 2004)

Sweet, thanks Moki!

~Mark


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## hk3 (Jan 29, 2008)

Thanks! Wouldn't it be fun to smoke one of each of all of these! 
Some of those sticks look great. 
Those prices are great also... but Im sure in the 50's that pretty hefty!


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## dunng (Jul 14, 2006)

_Very nice!_ GB? :ss


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## boonedoggle (Jun 23, 2006)

Awesome! I am going to print the whole thing out to read on the toilet tonight! Thanks Andrew! :ss


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

Cool! Thanks for posting this up!


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## Bigga Petey (Mar 25, 2005)

hk3 said:


> Those prices are great also... but Im sure in the 50's that pretty hefty!


No doubt. 
My dad was working as an engineer when I was born in '52. 
He was knocking down $50 a week. 
Owned a house and a car, and supported a family on that wage.
$15 for a box of cigars would probably been a luxury.


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## dwhitacre (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice find!!! 

"Matchless smoking" - I guess they used a torch!!!


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## uptown_cigar (Nov 27, 2007)

AMAZING stuff Moki! Printing it out and taking it to my shop.


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## Bear (Sep 22, 2007)

Very cool post. Thanks!


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## tireiron (Sep 6, 2007)

Moki, thanks for the interesting read. I wish we still had those prices.


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## Tricker-cl (Jun 22, 2007)

I wish I was Marty McFLy!! Where did I put that dang Delorean?


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## jkorp (Sep 27, 2007)

TRicker said:


> I wish I was Marty McFLy!! Where did I put that dang Delorean?


Hello McFly!!

I say that to the kids all the time, and they look at like huh


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## kvm (Sep 7, 2005)

Thanks Moki. Yup, gotta love those prices.


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## carni (Jan 18, 2007)

The one question I thought about was why has there been such a change in sizes and box pressing? I dont mean just shorter with bigger ring gauge but the artistry in the different perfecto shapes.

any vintage gorillas recall the differences over the years? I also wonder when the robusto and no. 2 shapes became common production?


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## Benzopyrene (Jun 5, 2007)

Very Cool! Thanks!


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## MrStogie (Oct 15, 2007)

that really was an interesting read, great job!


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## n3uka (Nov 13, 2006)

Very cool. Thanks for posting :tu


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## OpusXtasy (Apr 2, 2005)

Is the catalog in color or black and white?

OX


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## ForestPuma (Jun 28, 2007)

I'll take a cab of the RA Club Cabinets please!!


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## jkim05 (Feb 26, 2007)

They have Fancy Tales of Smoke!!!! So Jealous.


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## Silound (May 22, 2007)

shilala said:


> The H.Upmann Amatistas jar is wicked cool. They sure knew how to get it done, didn't they?


I have two of those jars packed away in safe storage 

Shortly after WWII, as a retirement gift, the US Army (specifically 3rd Armored Division) gave officers a jar of H.Upmann Amatistas. My grandfather got his and traded his cigars for a fellow officer's jar. Those jars are among the many valuable and rare things he has earmarked for me when he passes on (including everything he has from his service and a few other items).


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## thebiglebowski (Dec 19, 2005)

carni said:


> The one question I thought about was why has there been such a change in sizes and box pressing? I dont mean just shorter with bigger ring gauge but the artistry in the different perfecto shapes.
> 
> any vintage gorillas recall the differences over the years? I also wonder when the robusto and no. 2 shapes became common production?


this is exactly what i was thinking - all those beautiful perfectos. did i even *see *a robusto?!


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## Dandee (Feb 20, 2006)

Very cool...thanks for sharing!

I'd love to try one of the PL Larra en Cendro!


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## Mr. Doug (Apr 22, 2007)

$9.50 for a box of H. Upmann Petit Coronas...

...and JFK bought HOW MANY boxes of these?


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## boonedoggle (Jun 23, 2006)

I remember my mom telling me that her dad used to make $50 a week delivering 7-up products and that he fed a family of 7 on that income. I can imagine you had to be pretty well off back then to afford a box of Cubans.


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## Cadillac (Feb 28, 2007)

Thanks for this!


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## gnukfu (Dec 19, 2007)

Thanks for posting this Andrew!! Really enjoyed reading it - multiply the prices by 8 to see the prices in approximately today's dollars.


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## Mr. Doug (Apr 22, 2007)

Using H. Upmann Petit Coronas as an example...and adjusting for inflation.

$9.50 in 1955 = $72.51 in 2007.

Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products in 2007 and 1955,
they would cost you $9.50 and $1.28 respectively.

So it appears that they REALLY had it better back then. That box costs about $150-$175 today.

Taken from http://www.westegg.com/inflation/


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## Cigar Hound (Feb 8, 2006)

OpusXtasy said:


> Is the catalog in color or black and white?
> 
> OX


Unfortunately it's only in black & white. It would be nice to see them all in color though!!


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## rumballs (Mar 15, 2005)

Andrew - it seems that page 29 - the first page of Por Larranagas - is missing (as listed in the price list at the end).
Do you have that page?


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## M1903A1 (Jun 7, 2006)

Mr. Doug said:


> $9.50 for a box of H. Upmann Petit Coronas...
> 
> ...and JFK bought HOW MANY boxes of these?


About fifty, per the legend. (He wanted a thousand sticks, Salinger supposedly grabbed up 1,250 from all around DC.)


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## M1903A1 (Jun 7, 2006)

carni said:


> The one question I thought about was why has there been such a change in sizes and box pressing? I dont mean just shorter with bigger ring gauge but the artistry in the different perfecto shapes.
> 
> any vintage gorillas recall the differences over the years? I also wonder when the robusto and no. 2 shapes became common production?


I imagine the perfecto shapes fell by the wayside because they take more work to produce, and when hard currency took precedence over artistry the quicker-to-produce parejo shapes won out.

Robustos date back decades (supposedly they were created for a member of the Rothschild banking family), but I think they were mostly for the export market.


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## Jay Hemingway-cl (Oct 21, 2007)

boonedoggle said:


> Awesome! I am going to print the whole thing out to read on the toilet tonight! Thanks Andrew! :ss


my printers down, can ya send a brother a copy? LOL
:chk


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## Mr. Doug (Apr 22, 2007)

From WikiPedia...



> A popular legend holds that the favorite cigar of US President John F. Kennedy was the H. Upmann Petit Upmann, and that the night before the embargo was signed, he had aide Pierre Salinger procure every box he could gather from Washington, DC tobacconists, for a total of 1,200 of his favorite cigars. Others have claimed this folk tale is untrue and that Kennedy's favorite cigars were actually those made in the Philippines. However Pierre Salinger himself has recounted that night and confirmed it was 1,200 cigars and that he recalls the Presidents favorite was the H. Upmann Petit.


What cigar from the Philippines do you think they are talking about?


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## Papichulo (Jan 21, 2007)

I am drooling over the PL pics. What a line back then.


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## M1903A1 (Jun 7, 2006)

Mr. Doug said:


> From WikiPedia...
> 
> What cigar from the Philippines do you think they are talking about?


I've seen this Philippine cigar reference elsewhere. Supposedly they were custom rolled and packed in individual coffin boxes, which were to be destroyed after use.

I've also seen the video of Pierre Salinger telling the Petit Upmann story. There's also a story from CI ("Cigars & Che & JFK") referring to Por Larranagas and RyJ with the Kennedy White House. To make things even more confusing, another source I've seen claimed that H. Upmann Petit Upmanns weren't available in the US (at least not under that name) at that time.

Given that, one has to wonder....


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## KenS (Feb 22, 2008)

I think all of those pages are just old photos of Da Klugs' humidor. I'm sure he'll weigh in eventually with which *one* of those stogies he might not have! :ss


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## Guest (May 3, 2008)

mmblz said:


> Andrew - it seems that page 29 - the first page of Por Larranagas - is missing (as listed in the price list at the end).
> Do you have that page?


I'd love to see the pic of the Nacionales


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## M1903A1 (Jun 7, 2006)

M1903A1 said:


> I've seen this Philippine cigar reference elsewhere. Supposedly they were custom rolled and packed in individual coffin boxes, which were to be destroyed after use.
> 
> I've also seen the video of Pierre Salinger telling the Petit Upmann story. There's also a story from CI ("Cigars & Che & JFK") referring to Por Larranagas and RyJ with the Kennedy White House. To make things even more confusing, another source I've seen claimed that H. Upmann Petit Upmanns weren't available in the US (at least not under that name) at that time.
> 
> Given that, one has to wonder....


Here's where I saw the Pierre Salinger video, and the reference to JFK and Philippine cigars:

http://www.cigarenvy.com/2006/06/28/the-truth-about-kennedy-and-those-cuban-cigars/


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